Securing Your Business and Eating Vegetables: Nasty But Needful

You know that hackers want to destroy your business and access your files, customer financial data and everything else they can steal. You also know that you do not have the expertise to combat them, what to do? Hide in the corner and hope you don’t get attacked? Hire a professional and expensive security consultant? Or look for a great small business focused security solution.

Security vendor Kaspersky has a new solution that could be ideal for very small businesses. Here’s some information from Kaspersky about it. What I like about Kaspersky’s solution is that it has a LOT of features in ONE offering.

I think security is essential for all small businesses and not enough of you are doing what you can to be secure. I’ve included their entire press release below.

Kaspersky Lab has announced a new version of Kaspersky Small Office Security, the company’s security solution built specifically for businesses with fewer than 25 employees. This solution includes new features that help small businesses stay ahead of modern security challenges, and includes Kaspersky Lab’s latest anti-malware technologies in an easy-to-use product that doesn’t require business owners to be IT experts.

According to IDC estimates, there are more than 75 million businesses worldwide that operate with fewer than 10 employees[i]. These “very small businesses” will process millions, if not billions, of dollars in 2014. Yet this segment has been traditionally under-served by IT security vendors that don’t offer products with these businesses in mind. As a result, business owners have been forced to use consumer-level products that don’t adequately meet their business needs, or stripped-down versions of enterprise-level products that are cumbersome to manage and force businesses to pay for security features they will never use. Small business owners can find valuable resources, videos and tips for selecting the right security solution on Kaspersky Lab’s new small business web page.

Kaspersky Small Office Security is designed to cater solely to the needs of these small businesses, combining powerful protection from cybercrime with the features small businesses need to compete in the global economy. Most importantly, Kaspersky Small Office Security is simple to install and manage, and offers incredible value in both purchase costs and administration time. This simplicity allows business owners to equip themselves with world-class protection without taking their focus away from running their companies.

What’s New in Kaspersky Small Office Security

Kaspersky Lab solidified its commitment to the very small business segment in 2010 with the company’s first stand-alone version of Kaspersky Small Office Security. It was then the industry’s first complete security solution built specifically for startups and growing businesses, and it is a distinction that still remains true in 2013. Kaspersky Lab has continued to improve and refine its offering over the past several years, which has earned numerous awards from third-party test organizations, including Dennis Technology Labs in2012 and 2013. In fact, Dennis Technology Labs’ latest report, published in October 2013, ranked Kaspersky Small Office Security as the most accurate and effective anti-malware solution for small businesses, well ahead of four competing products. Built on the same award-winning platform, the latest version of Kaspersky Small Office Security includes several brand new features, and a host of technology upgrades and improvements, including:

Safe Money to Protect Online Banking – By automatically activating new layers of protection when users are conducting financial transactions online, businesses can now pay invoices, make purchases, and access online financial data with peace of mind. Kaspersky Lab’s award-winning Safe Money technology automatically activates an ultra-secure web browser whenever the user visits a financial site, such as an online bank or payment service. The Safe Money browser ensures no unauthorized programs can run and on-screen data is protected from key-loggers and screen-capture malware. Safe Money will also verify that the website users are connected to is authentic and has a valid certification to defeat phishing attempts, and constantly monitors the connection to ensure information is not intercepted by cybercriminals.

Enhanced Mobile Device Support – Small businesses are not immune to the challenges of protecting a mobile workforce and the fast-growing BYOD trends. Kaspersky Small Office Security now includes support for Android tablets and smartphones, equipping these devices with an array of anti-malware, web browsing protection, and privacy controls. Most importantly, these devices will now have Kaspersky Lab’s latest anti-theft technologies, allowing employees to find missing mobile devices, or remotely wipe the data from stolen mobile devices.

Automatic Exploit Prevention– This unique technology prevents cybercriminals from using emerging vulnerabilities in legitimate software, commonly known as Zero Days, to launch malware attacks. By proactively monitoring the behavior of commonly-exploited software, such as Adobe and Java, Automatic Exploit Prevention will protect customers from undiscovered exploits and ensure customers are protected even if the latest updates to their legitimate programs have not yet been installed.

Password Manager – Secure passwords are a foundation for secure computing, yet all too often, users take the more convenient options of using simple passwords, reusing the same passwords for multiple accounts, or keeping a list of their passwords on a piece of paper next to their desk. With a password manager, employees can get back on track with good password habits, and only need to remember a single “master password.” Kaspersky Password Manager will store passwords in an encrypted vault, and automatically fill-in the correct password when needed. It can also create customized secure passwords for new accounts so employees won’t be tempted to re-use existing passwords, and enables employees to create a secure portable version of their password vault on a USB drive.

Online Backup – Small businesses can now automatically save their critical data securely in the cloud or to a local hard drive or server. By making the backup process simpler, small businesses can be assured their most important business plans, financial records, and customer data will remain accessible in case of equipment failure or accidental deletion.

Protection and Control with Ease

The most compelling feature of Kaspersky Small Office Security is its ease of use, which makes advanced protection technologies accessible and straightforward for small business owners. By de-mystifying features like data encryption and web policy controls through wizard-driven menus and one-click options, Kaspersky Small Office Security makes the benefits of web usage policies, data encryption, and central management available to businesses of all sizes.

Web Policy Management – Business owners can easily customize each employee’s ability to access websites, social networks, and applications. This can include individual websites, or entire categories of websites that are classified by Kaspersky Small Office Security.

Data Encryption and File Backup – Not only can business owners enable automatic file backups on each PC at scheduled intervals, but the files on both the PC and the backup storage can also be protected with powerful encryption settings. Data encryption ensures that the most sensitive data in a business – such as product designs and customer financial information – is never vulnerable to theft, unauthorized access, or accidental deletion.

Central Management – From any PC on the network, owners can remotely manage the security settings described above on every employee computer, along with additional management capabilities such as license renewal, monitoring of security settings, and more.

Kaspersky Small Office Security supports up to 25 user licenses per business, which includes PCs (Windows XP through Windows 8), file servers, and Android smartphones and tablets. Each user license includes protection of 1 PC and 1 mobile device, so businesses that purchase protection for 10 employees can protect 10 PCs and 10 mobile devices. Kaspersky Small Office Security also supports popular Windows file servers, including Windows Server 2008 R2; Small Business Server 2011 Essentials/Standard; and Windows Server 2012 Foundation/Essentials/Standard. Kaspersky Lab will include support for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 later in Q4 2013.

Kaspersky Small Office Security is available for purchase at computer retailers and the Kaspersky Lab e-store. Kaspersky Small Office Security can also be purchased through local authorized Kaspersky Lab resellers, who can provide hands-on assistance with installation and configuration, as well as future support.